Table 1.
Collagens in vertebrates at a glance
| Type | Class | Distribution |
|---|---|---|
| I | Fibril | Abundant and widespread in non-cartilaginous connective tissue: dermis, bone, tendon, ligament |
| II | Fibril | Cartilage, vitreous |
| III | Fibril | Co-distribution with collagen I: skin, blood vessels, intestine |
| IV | Network | BM |
| V | Fibril | Widespread and co-distribution with collagen I: bone, dermis, cornea, placenta |
| VI | Network | Widespread: muscle, bone, cartilage, cornea, dermis |
| VII | FACIT | Dermis, bladder |
| VIII | Network | Widespread: dermis, brain, heart, kidney |
| IX | FACIT | Co-distribution with collagen II: cartilage, cornea, vitreous |
| X | Network | Hypertrophic cartilage |
| XI | Fibril | Co-distribution with collagen II: cartilage, intervertebral disc |
| XII | FACIT | Co-distribution with collagen I: dermis, tendon |
| XIII | MACIT | Endothelial cells, dermis, eye, heart |
| XIV | FACIT | Widespread and co-distribution with collagen I: bone, dermis, cartilage |
| XV | MULTIPLEXIN | Located between collagen fibrils that are close to BM, capillaries, testis, kidney, heart |
| XVI | FACIT | Integrated into collagen fibrils and fibrillin-1 microfibrils, dermis, kidney |
| XVII | MACIT | Hemidesmosomes in epithelia |
| XVIII | MULTIPLEXIN | Associated with BM, liver |
| XIX | FACIT | Rare, localized to BM |
| XX | FACIT | Widespread: cornea (chick) |
| XXI | FACIT | Widespread: stomach, kidney |
| XXII | FACIT | Tissue junctions |
| XXIII | MACIT | Limited distribution: heart, retina |
| XXIV | Fibril | Shares sequence homology with the fibril-forming collagens: bone, cornea |
| XXV | MACIT | Brain, heart and testis |
| XXVI | FACIT | Testis and ovary |
| XXVII | Fibril | Shares sequence homology with the fibril-forming collagens: cartilage |
| XXVIII | Network | A component of the BM around Schwann cells, dermis, sciatic nerve |
BM basement membrane, FACIT fibril-associated collagens with interrupted triple helices, MACIT membrane-associated collagens with interrupted triple helices, MULTIPLEXINs multiple triple-helix domains and interruptions